For those of you who think that the current Republican/Tea Party government shutdown was the unfortunate consequence of a fierce political battle, think again. The New York Times has come out with an article that shows that this whole situation was planned out months in advance with the help of the Heritage Action folks and (surprise, surprise) money from the Koch brothers.

Can you spell extortion, boys and girls?

And, if you haven’t been paying close attention, the plutocrats are back in front of the Supreme Court saying that they should be able to give as much money as they want directly to political candidates. No more having to work through secretive Super PACs; they want to be seen as drivers of their candidates. And they want the control over those candidates that their money will buy.